Current Campaigns

Foreclosure Prevention Task Force

The Task Force, in conjunction with other organizations, has effectively pushed back on the destruction of the foreclosure and eviction crisis that has undermined our national economy. Created in June 2008, the task Force’s goal is threefold: (1) to draft and introduce policies that address issues that homeowners and tenants of foreclosed on houses face, (2) to provide legal assistance to these homeowners and tenants, and (3) to conduct legal clinics for them.

Thus far, four pieces of legislation were crafted and are currently pending before the Massachusetts legislature, educational community forums (Street Law Clinics) are regularly conducted, and support for direct action events are provided in the form of legal observers at eviction blockades and pro bono representation for arrested demonstrators.  While the problem is far from over, an impact is visible. Bank and loan agency initiated evictions have slowed somewhat as temporary moratoriums have been issued to borrowers facing eviction, demonstrations and winning court arguments have resulted in increasingly large settlement payments to tenants, and local organizations have received federal money to buy back foreclosed properties from banks to be transferred to the former property owners with an affordable mortgage based on true market value. For more information, please contact the Guild office.

NLG Mass Defense Committee

The Mass Defense Committee is active in these areas: (1) training and providing legal observers for political events and demonstrations; (2) providing training and written information to activists about their legal rights and the legal consequences that may attend any civil disobedience activities; and (3) providing legal advice and representation to individuals who were arrested while engaged in political demonstrations. For more information, please contact the Guild office.

Campaign Against the MBTA Searches

In 2004, former Governor Romney announced a new, controversial security policy that ordered the MBTA Transit Police to conduct random searches of T riders’ bags. According to the policy, the MBTA police can search bags belonging to passengers entering subway or commuter rail stations.  Believing this violated passengers’ Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, the Guild began an educational campaign, distributing buttons reading “I DO NOT CONSENT TO A SEARCH” and ‘Know Your Rights’ flyers with information about riders’ constitutional rights. More so, the Guild and other civil rights groups sought an injunction on the MBTA searches, as the searches were intimidating and coercive, and interfered with passengers’ civil liberties.

Today, the Guild office tracks and documents random searches conducted at MBTA stations, and needs the help of the public to further this campaign. Anyone who has been searched or witnessed searches is asked to call the Guild office (617-227-7335). For more information, please contact the Guild office.

Independent Civilian Review Board

In coalition with the American Friends Service Committee, Greater Boston Rights Coalition, and other allies, the NLG has been pushing for the creation of an independent civilian board to review complaints against Boston police officers.

What began as a 2004 campaign against the use of less-lethal weapons by police for crowd control purposes in the aftermath of a local student’s death has transformed into the campaign for effective civilian oversight of the Boston Police Department. The current system of a limited three-person Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel (CO-OP), which handles complaints filed with the department’s Internal Affairs Division (IAD) and has no authority to conduct its own investigation, and is highly distrusted by the community it aims to serve.  In March 2009 the CO-OP came to recognize the Guild’s expertise in police misconduct and accountability issues, and will hopefully implement a number of suggestions posed, aimed at encouraging IAD complaints, lengthening time for appeal, and slating Guild members to fill the vacant ombudsman position.  Though suspicions of the current civilian review board continue as the board falls short of its mission, the Guild has always understood the need to continue the fight for police accountability in Boston. For more information, please contact the Guild office.